Electronic devices which operate in potentially damaging environments pose challenging design problems. The damaging environment may be due to external factors such as ambient moisture, and/or to conditions caused by the electronic device itself. One such example, where the electronic device creates the damaging environment, entails ink jet printing devices. Ink jet printing devices eject fluidic ink from multiple nozzles arranged on one or more print cartridges onto a print media to form a desired image. During the ink ejection process, some of the ink that is ejected does not actually contribute to the desired image, but instead becomes what is generally referred to as “non-target ink”.
This non-target ink can assume various forms. Generally, the non-target ink becomes an aerosol, a powder, or liquid colloid among other forms, and as such can drift and land on components of the printing device especially the print cartridge(s). The non-target ink can degrade certain components, most notably various electrical conductors that are commonly comprised of metal. The conductors can be especially difficult to protect from degradation where two or more conductors form a connection or “electrical interconnect.”
Accordingly, the present invention provides an advantageous method of protecting electrical interconnects from degradations and resultant protected structures.